checkSURE Companies House
Implementation of the Companies Act for April
A wave of new legislation has now come into force since the beginning of April as part of the on-going implementation of the new Companies Act. Amongst these changes are many that apply only to small to medium sized companies. Companies House has already posted on their website what these changes in April are. Here they are summarised:
Delivery of Annual Accounts to Companies House Time Period
In the past, the delivery time for annual accounts for private limited companies was 10 months and public limited companies, 7 months. The new legislation has now reduced the delivery period by one month. This means that all those companies whose accounting periods began after 6th April will only have 9 months (if they’re private limited companies) and 6 months (if they’re public limited companies) to file their annual accounts into Companies House.
The Post of Company Secretary within Companies
From 6th April, the post of the Company Secretary will be optional for private limited companies, however they are still mandatory for public limited companies. Therefore private limited companies may keep their company secretary post, or they can be resigned and not replaced. If a company do decide that they no longer need a company secretary, they will need to inform Companies House by filing a 288b form (details may also have to be amended in the Articles). This change allows greater control for those people who wish to run their own company themselves. However, the company will still need to perform the duties of the Company Secretary such as filing of documents into Companies House.
Although the above changes have taken place at the beginning of April (as stated on the Companies House website), the following changes have already come into force:
Company Registration Details
This change requires all companies to provide the company registration number, registered office and country of registration on all of its literature and written correspondence. These include the company websites, invoices, letters, order forms and emails. If a company fails to do this, it is liable for a fine of up £1000 – a seriously large fine for small companies!
Annual General Meetings are now Optional
Private limited companies are no longer required to hold annual general meetings – unless it is specifically required to do so in the Articles filed into Companies House.
Another date in the diary for the next wave of new legislations that will affect small to medium sized companies will be 1st October 2008. These changes will include the following:
Company Directors Laws
The duties of the Company Director have now been written in law for the first time. The new change will allow individuals to carry on being company directors passed the age of 70, however those under 16 will have to resign. This will need to be carried out by filing a 288b form into Companies House.
Company Owners
This change will require sole directors or the sole owner of a company to file their details into Companies House rather than using the details of another company to protect their identity.
Purchasing Company Shares
Another change that will come into force in October will be the providing of financial assistance from a company to purchase their own shares. This change will aid the ease of company re-structuring. To view details of these changes and how they may affect your company, please visit the Companies House website.
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